Abstract
This paper proposes a novel RF front-end architecture for software-defined radios (SDRs) based on an electronically tunable antenna pair controlled by an antenna control unit (ACU) consisting of field effect transistor (FET) switches and a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The fundamental gain-bandwidth limitations of electrically small antennas prevent a small antenna from having high efficiency and wide bandwidth simultaneously. In the age of miniaturization, especially in the wireless communication industries, a promising solution to this limitation is to introduce reconfigurable antennas that can be tuned electronically to different frequency bands with both high efficiency and narrow instantaneous bandwidth. This reconfigurable antenna technology not only simplifies current RF front-end architectures, but can be reprogrammed on demand to transmit and receive RF signals in any desired frequency band. This novel RF front-end architecture implemented by a reconfigurable antenna pair can help realize SDRs.
Highlights
INTRODUCTIONSoftware-defined radios (SDRs) are considered to be the ultimate solution for the future of wireless communications
This paper proposes a novel RF front-end architecture for software-defined radios (SDRs) based on an electronically tunable antenna pair controlled by an antenna control unit (ACU) consisting of field effect transistor (FET) switches and a field programmable gate array (FPGA)
An electronically tunable shorted patch antenna (SPA) covering the transmit portions of the US cellular (824–849 MHz) and GSM 900 (890– 915 MHz) bands was designed and fabricated in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the reconfigurable antenna pair for mobile handsets
Summary
Software-defined radios (SDRs) are considered to be the ultimate solution for the future of wireless communications. Introducing an electronically tunable antenna pair that receives commands from the radio’s digital signal processor (DSP) is a promising solution for realizing multiband radios and SDRs. the narrow instantaneous frequency response of the reconfigurable antenna pair would greatly reduce the need for additional analog filtering in the RF front end, which will reduce the size, cost, and power requirements of wireless mobile devices. The narrow instantaneous frequency response of the reconfigurable antenna pair would greatly reduce the need for additional analog filtering in the RF front end, which will reduce the size, cost, and power requirements of wireless mobile devices Such an antenna pair would reject undesired interferers with a minimum degradation of the desired signal’s signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A novel RF front-end architecture which is simpler and more cost-effective than current RF architectures is proposed to improve the performance of the RF front end and demonstrate the feasibility of SDR applications
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